The Most Extreme is a documentary television series on the Americancable television network, Animal Planet. It first aired on July 7, 2002. Each episode focuses on a specific animal feature, such as strength, speed, behavior, anatomy, or diet, and examines and ranks ten animals that portray extreme or unusual examples of that quality. The rankings serve only to give a broad depiction; a scientifically rigorous procedure is not employed to quantify them. For instance, the episode that focuses on the greatest jumpers suggests that the klipspringer can jump 7.6 m (25 ft) high. However, the figure in meters is more likely to be the correct figure for feet, which should be 2.3 m (7.5 ft).

Along with each animal on the countdown, each episode presents a computer-animated segment which compares the animal's ability with something equivalent in humans, followed by an interview segment with people who share some common trait. For example, in "Super Sharks", the animal ranked #1 was the Hammerhead shark, for its extreme senses of vision and smell, along with its ability to sense voltages as small as a half-billionth of a volt. This was then compared with a team of human hackers, including StankDawg, who were war-driving around a neighborhood and looking for faint wireless signals. Old, often public domain, cartoons, movie clips and trailers are often included.

The series is made in New Zealand by a small production team at NHNZ. The termite has had the most #1 ratings but has only been in 15% of the top 10's.